Presidential television

The History channel is running various president-related programs in the next 24 hours, including:

• The White House: Behind Closed Doors
• The Presidents (a series)
• Modern Marvels: presidential transportation
• Secret Access: Air Force 1
• Civil War Journal
• A Presidency Revealed (a series including JFK and FDR)
• UFO Files (Cleveland was abducted by aliens)
• Star Wars Tech (presumably about Reagan)
• Batman Unmasked (Harding fought crime in a black cloak and cowl and became the inspiration for Batman; the "playboy president" persona was a ruse).

UPDATE: At 8 AM and 2 PM on Thu, they're also rerunning their excellent doco on Fort Knox. The history and architecture of the bullion depository is really fascinating.

The Lincoln White House

This diagram of the Lincoln second floor appears in Seale's two-volume WH book. It shows the old west stair as a dual initial rise and a central rise to the second floor. But we know from photographs of the grand stair that by the 1890s it was a single initial rise at the right, a left turn, then a single rise to the second floor.

However, I don't recall ever reading about that stair being renovated from dual to single. The question is, are we sure the dual rise stair was ever built? And when was it renovated to the single stair we see in the photos?

Bunch of stuff

I've added a navigation link to the Sub-Basements and posted a bunch of new photos. Check the What's New page or the mirror What's New page.

King George

Interesting "what if?" article on the lineage of George Washington and who would be monarch if he had taken a crown. The nut graph (given UK-style descent):

Queen Estella would have reigned from 1918 to her death in 1931, but because her only child had predeceased her, the succession would have swung to her oldest uncle’s branch. He was also deceased, but had two living children from separate marriages. The son, though younger and from the second marriage, would have been given preference, so that would give America a King Lee from 1931 to 1969. Lee also only had one daughter. Like her father, Queen Odelle would have enjoyed a lengthy rule—1969 to 2000. And with her majesty’s passing, we would now be under the dominion of Queen Brynda.

Jack Ford

I've posted some of the photos from the 1976 Rolling Stone with Jack Ford. And I updated the mirror site.

Also, I received the 1968 Life with juicy oblique cutaways of the West Wing as well as the WH and East Wing we used to create the current East Wing floor plans.

There's also a really neat showcase of houses each president was born in (including Johnson), which together make about the ugliest neighborhood I've ever seen.* It sort of starts out as Genteel Town, proceeds to Poverty Row, then on to Middleclass Muddle, with brief jaunts up Old Money Lane. I have a feeling that continuing the trend would look like a tour of Old Money Lane.

* Insert your own "Then you haven't seen wherever" joke.

1934 West Wing

I've added the scan of the historical West Wing from Life (who reprinted it from Time), as well as a couple of other photos from the issue. There was even this photo of the Joseph P Kennedy family.

Presidential limousines

Here's an interesting slide show from the NYT on presidential limousines.

Pete provides another look at the new limo.

Get me Rewrite!

I've added several photos from Life showing the old Press Room from the 40s and 50s and also the West Wing Lobby from the 30s to the 60s, where journalists hung out.

I'm curious to know more about the strange stand-out wall with a bulletin board (and deer trophy). It seems to have been added in the early 40s, perhaps to avoid all the noise of opening and closing the door.

Magazines and thanks!

I just got tipped off about old issues of magazines with good articles on the White House, and I managed to find them on Ebay and buy them for $17 each (including shipping):

• Life: January 4, 1937—The Roosevelt White House (with a diagram of the West Wing to die for)
• Life: July 5, 1968—Special Issue: The Presidency, with diagrams and photos (the primary source for my East Wing floor plan)
  
• Rolling Stone: July 29, 1976—President Ford's son Jack in the White House

Thanks to Alec and Rod....

...And many thanks to Sharon, Kathryn, and especially Lynne for their donations and happy new year to all!

By the way, feel free to suggest any other old White House magazine issues. The Internet is amazing. I'm telling you, this thing is going to be big.

West Wing history

Visitor Alec sent me photos of a tiny government publication from 1995 called Architecture of the West Wing of the White House. He made modifications to the c1911 diagram to make it a more authentic 1909 diagram, and I used the photos he sent to create a 1935 diagram from the 1945 one. Other photos confirmed Pete's current floor plan. See the First Floor of the West Wing History page.

Thanks Alec!

The White House in 3D - a mini-tour

I've finally managed to produce a high-quality version of the animation of Pete Sharkey's 3D President's Park with narration by me. If you go to YouTube, you should see a little "watch in high quality" link in the lower right for best quality.



The next step is naturally to go inside the White House, and with Pete hard at work on various rooms (have you seen Wingnut's Workings lately?) the only trick will be making the transitions seamless. And then, if I can get Pete to create them: historical versions of the White House in 3D. Imagine flying over Lincoln's or Jefferson's White House....

White House Week on C-SPAN

Today is the beginning of White House Week, C-SPAN's answer to Shark Week.

They even have a floor plan. The "Chocolate Shop" is placed in the basement. I recall seeing a reference to this before; is it really different from the Pastry Kitchen on the first mez?

And there's video of the Living Room! So much for my separate-bedrooms theory....

UPDATE: Hey! They used my version of the floor plans...!
UPDATE: Hey! They credit WHM at the end!

Help: photos of the old west stair

I have a couple of photos of the old west stair removed during the 19-2 (as JBK would say) renovation, and I have a visitor asking for the sources to use in a commercial project. Can anyone help point out the books or other sources? I don't have either of them labeled with a credit.

One (from Seale perhaps? what was his source?)
T'other

C-Span's White House Week

Don't forget about C-Span's "White House Week," starting December 14, which will include a tour. From the trailer, it looks pretty good. Already, I see it will give us good wide-angle view of the Flower Shop and Pastry Kitchen in addition to all the usual state rooms and family quarters. Still no hint of the Living Room and Master Bedroom or even the East and West Bedrooms on the north side, nor anything on the third floor. It would be nice to see what the Bushes have done with the Clinton's Music Room, at least. And it would be nice to the see the grounds in detail, especially the new pool house.

White House: Behind Closed Doors report

I just watched WH:BCD and here are a few things of interest:

• It has a nice 3D WH and takes the lid off to show various parts. However, the floor plans are not significantly different from WHM's and it does not show any parts (like the basement press offices) that I don't have documented. It specifically avoids showing the layout of the third floor even when discussing it directly and showing it from the outside.
• The servants' spiral staircase definitely ends at the first mez level and has storage shelves built into the interior[!]
• I believe we get our first glimpse at the basement mez pantry.
• In addition to the Kitchen and state rooms, we get a good look at the guest rooms, Treaty Room, West Sitting Hall, and Private Dining Room.
• Laura claims she and W stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom when they visited the Bush 1s. This contradicts her claims from Monarchy that they stayed in the Queens' Bedroom. Then again, she also says that they hosted QE2 and Prince Charles in the Private Dining Room, while a picture is shown of the QE2 lunch in the Yellow Room.
  
• There's a good moment when the narrator says the WH is wired for 21st century living and we see a workman remove a wall panel to reveal what appear to be 50-year-old screw-type fuses.
  

More Life

I've added a dozen more photos from Life, mostly on the ground floor, mostly from the Eisenhower era, and some in great color (once I heavily processed them).

Also, I've added all the recent photos to the mirror site also.

White Gold and Jackie

Here is an awesome music video commercial for milk. Warning: if you watch for too long, you'll accidentally see the hour-long 1962 Jackie Kennedy White House tour.

Floating White House for sale

The Manitou, John Kennedy's "floating White House" has been restored and is up for sale for a ridiculous amount of money. Inevitable unfortunate quote: "JFK using her adds to the intrigue."

Scannin'

I took a little time finally and scanned an article from a 1902 issue of The Outlook magazine called "The White House - The Plans for Its Reconstruction" and also the recent Architectural Digest spread of the Bush 2 renovation. Look for those soon.

I also scanned the floor plan of 1 Observatory Circle (the VP residence) from American Monarchy; so I'll create a mini-site for that soon, too.

UPDATE: 1902 article now available

C-SPAN's White House

Pete clued me in to C-SPAN's documentary on the White House scheduled to air December 14-20: White House: Inside America's Most Famous House. Can't wait!